‘The Shape of Our World’ Artist Bios

Maryam Amirvaghe was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1989. Amiravghe works across media creating paintings, video art and sculpture. She earned her MFA at the University of Arkansas in 2018 after completing her BFA at the Sooreh Art University in Tehran in 2013. She is an assistant director of exhibitions and instructor in the UA School of Art.

Eric Andre is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in Akumadan, Ghana. In 2010, he graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with a BA in industrial arts, majoring in ceramics. Currently, he is a second year MFA student in ceramics at the University of Arkansas. His works encapsulate both the functional and conceptual through sculpture pieces, fountains, souvenirs, vases and mixed-media artifacts.

Cheri Bohn grew up in north Texas in a small town called Decatur. She studied fine arts at the University of North Texas. In 1999, she and her family moved to Northwest Arkansas. Her journey with glass started in the early 1990s in college. After moving to the woods, she was inspired to combine tree roots.

Beth Burgess, a primarily self-taught artist, was exposed to sculpture-making through a high school art class where she developed a love for the sensory satisfaction of manipulating clay and other materials. She eventually discovered copper wire as a medium that presented fascinating opportunities. Beth’s current practice involves re-imagining the potential of discarded objects into artworks that provoke an emotional response and questioning of societal norms from the viewer.

Shelby Fleming holds a BFA in studio art from Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville and an MFA from the University of Arkansas School of Art. Fleming’s studio practice is cross-disciplinary with a focus on sculpture, installation and performance art. Her most recent work focuses on how bodies occupy space physically and psychologically.

Tom Flynn lives in Rogers, where he and his wife Susan recently moved to a smaller house with a bigger shop for his extensive found object metal collection. He has always been a creative person, brewing his own beer and playing several musical instruments; he started creating found object art in Austin, Texas, in 1998.

Martin Morales was born in Canaguá, Mérida State, Venezuela on July 1, 1951. He studied at the Regional Workshop of Plastic Arts, INCIBA Tovar, Mérida State and Graphic Design, Pure Art in the Experimental Center of Art, University of the Andes, Mérida, Venezuela.